The following article contains spoilers for What If…?’s first episode.
What If…? brings forward a ton of hypothetical scenarios starring some of Marvel’s most beloved characters, yet speculation on how much of that will spill over to the MCU reality skyrocketed thanks to the introduction of Shuma Gorath’s brethren, the Great Old Ones.
Besides Peggy Carter becoming Captain Carter, Steve Rogers jumping inside Howard Stark’s Hydra Stomper, and other beloved characters getting slightly tuned personalities, What If…?’s first episode gave viewers a glimpse at a monstrous being that is heavily rumored to take part in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. After all, Loki already set the Multiverse loose for the rest of the MCU.
Now, thanks to the appearance of a blueish tentacled being in What If…?’s premiere, a bunch of fan theories are popping up trying to explain exactly what happened when Red Skull summoned the creature he dubs “Hydra’s champion” by opening up a portal to another dimension with the Tesseract. This, coupled with rumors that Shuma-Gorath and not Kang the Conqueror could be the main villain in the Multiverse of Madness, plus some shots in What If…?’s trailer showing Captain Carter and Doctor Strange together could lead to an interesting development.
However, while it’s easy to point out Shuma-Gorath is usually colored in green, it bears saying that he is just one of many beings known to belong to the ancient Many-Angled Ones, a group of absurdly powerful Marvel characters inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s writing that devour the very existence of the earth and humanity. This ancient form of chaos was first introduced in Doctor Strange’s world in a 1973 Marvel Comics issue, although the character has also become famous for appearing in the Marvel vs. Capcom fighting game series.
Those games were recently resurfaced due to current developer efforts to rescue Marvel vs. Capcom 2 from being trapped in older consoles, so perhaps Marvel Studios could be aiming to do the same for Shuma-Gorath to rescue this demonic creature from comic book obscurity. Shuma-Gorath’s reported role in Doctor Strange’s sequel would see him chasing after America Chavez’s multiverse traveling powers, a plan that should see Doctor Strange and the Scarlet Witch chase him down in other twisted realities in order to stop it.
Even if Red Skull and Hydra were indeed looking for a different tentacled champion, this reveal is likely to produce some ramifications in the MCU as randomness is not quite Marvel Studios’ style when it comes to introducing new villains, it just takes its time with some more than with others. Maybe getting a grasp of all this might prove to be a challenge for What If...?'s 30-minute episodes.
Source: @whoronomy|Twitter